The National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) announced on Friday that it had stopped two armored cash-transport vehicles and seven Ukrainian citizens, including a former Ukrainian intelligence general, on March 5. The vehicles were traveling from Austria to Ukraine, carrying $40 million, €35 million and 9 kilograms of gold.
“Who did the Ukrainian money transporters transport 480 billion forints of wealth through our country in two months?” asks Magyar Nemzet.
NAV, which is conducting criminal proceedings on suspicion of money laundering, also announced that this year alone, more than $900 million, €420 million and 146 kilograms of gold bars have been transported to Ukraine through Hungarian territory.
The Ukrainians detained have been expelled from Hungary, with Kyiv confirming they are back in Ukraine. There has been no indication of what has happened to the money and gold seized.
Budapest’s investigation focuses on yet more corruption at the hands of Zelensky’s government. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó asked on Friday “if this is not the money of the Ukrainian war mafia,” demanding an immediate explanation from Ukraine regarding the huge amount of cash and gold.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has stated that the seven Ukrainian citizens are employees of the state-owned Oschadbank, i.e., Takarékbank. They were driving two bank vehicles transporting cash as part of a regular service between state-owned banks, from Austria to Ukraine. However, the money transport was supervised by a former general of the Ukrainian Defense Service, his deputy was a major in the air force, and the others also have a military past.
A Ukrainian YouTuber, Anatolij Sharij, quoted by MN, had this to say: “I was convinced that the money belonged to Zelensky. Some kind of abuse. However, today I received information that the money did not belong to Zelensky, but to his European colleagues. The story is completely fantastic, and yesterday it seemed unrealistic to me. But today, numerous sources are reporting that Orbán did not strike in Kyiv, but in Brussels. It is about 80 million euros and about 10 kilograms of gold. In Brussels, they know whose money it is. […] Orbán acted very precisely and hit where it hurt.”
Corruption has been an ongoing issue for Kyiv and has involved people close to Zelensky. One now-famous case featuring a golden toilet and allegedly $100 million of stolen money has led to international warrants against Ukrainian-Israeli Timur Mindich, known as Zelensky’s “cash wallet,” and his business partner Alexander Zuckerman, who also reportedly holds Israeli citizenship. Both have been reported to be hiding out in Israel.
Former Justice Minister German Galushchenko was arrested attempting to leave Ukraine, while yet another Zelensky official, former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, was also arrested.
Meanwhile, the Mandiner news portal also revealed that Lóránt Horváth, the lawyer representing the Ukrainian money transporters captured by the Counter-Terrorism Center (TEK), works at the same firm as Adrienn Laczó, who is a member of and fervent supporter of the opposition Tisza Party, led by Péter Magyar.
“It is a fact that I firmly believe that Hungary is in dire need of a new regime change, and at the moment I see the only custodian of this – along with my multi-millionaire self – in the Tisza Party,” Mandiner quoted Laczó’s post.
It was previously revealed that Laczó regularly met with Zoltán Tarr, the vice-chairman of the Tisza Party, and Tarr himself boasted about this, saying that he was working with the “outcast judge” on a “judicial restoration plan,” which means that if they come to power, they will attack the entire judicial system.
“I can tell you, because it’s no secret now: This week I met Adrien Laczó, who is a judge (…), and they have an association (…) where they are dealing with how to restore the country, the judiciary, to what the country has been diverted from with very serious work, with the investment of a lot of smart people and a lot of energy. This is very good because we are preparing for the fact that if there is an election and we manage to achieve such a result, then we will have to touch on those spoiled, consciously dismantled things that represent the country, and a very important element of this is putting the judiciary in order, restoring the independence of the judiciary,” said the Tisza politician.
Tensions have been boiling over between Ukraine and Hungary regarding Zelensky’s refusal to restart the Friendship oil pipeline, which carries Russian oil to both Hungary and Slovakia. In the wake of the Iran War and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, there were some indications that Brussels would be inclined to change course and force Kyiv to restart that energy supply.
But yesterday, FM Péter Szijjártó posted the letter Hungary sent to the European Commission, led by staunch Ukraine ally Ursula von der Leyen.
“The @EU_Commission did not stand up for Hungary and Slovakia. Instead, it claims our countries face no supply difficulties and is defending Ukraine rather than supporting two member states. Moreover, Brussels is cooperating with Croatia to block Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia by sea, despite the EU decision allowing this when pipeline transport is not possible. This is shameful and outrageous,” Szijjártó wrote on X.
EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, meanwhile, wrote on X about Brussels’ drive for more coordinated, secure and cleaner energy: “One thing is clear: reliance on imported fossil fuels brings too many risks. We need to double down on the energy transition. We must continue to expand our clean, homegrown renewable energy & energy efficiency, while modernising and increasing our energy infrastructure.”
Ukraine has also decided to double down on the threats against Hungary. Just a day after Zelensky decided to threaten PM Viktor Orbán, well-known political analyst Aleksei Zhulavsky posted a YouTube video in which he said that 120,000 Ukrainian “recruiting officers” would be sent to Hungary to abduct (“pack up”) Hungarian men to preumably be sent to the front, reports Ellenpont.
“Orbán believes in himself and said that he will force Ukraine to repair the Friendship oil pipeline. Orbán, I will explain to you how this will all happen. Listen to this: We will send our TCKs to you in Hungary with Ukraine. How many soldiers do you have, forty thousand? We have three times as many TCKs. Not a single shot will be fired. They will simply arrive, ‘pack up’ all the men, and that will be the end of it. Well, something like this,” the portal quotes Zhulavsky as saying, adding that the analyst believes Kyiv seeks to interfere in Hungary’s April parliamentary election to get pro-Ukraine and Brussels-aligned Péter Magyar into power.
